Supply Chain Management: An Overview Of Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers (Harland, 1996). The term was coined by Keith Oliver, a Booz Allen Hamilton executive in 1982 as an extension of logistics, though some scholars see the terms interchangeable. Logistics, as well as many other terms commonly used in business, originate from military terminology. In business language it generally refers to the management of the flow of goods, information and other resources, between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of consumers. In this study it is not necessary

Cooper et al. (1997) stated “there is definitely a need for the integration of business operations that goes beyond logistics. The integration of business processes across the supply chain is what all call supply chain management”. Therefore, SCM aims for improvement of all material, informational and financial flows both within the internal supply chain and the extended supply chain from the original supplier to the end

These systems have integrated all the different processes within organizations and provided a platform for information sharing at all levels (Baymout, 2014). The following are a few advantages of ERP systems:

• ERP systems have enabled companies to cut their extra inventory by providing them with all the necessary information required to forecast the demand and manage the whole process in a more efficient manner.

• ERP vendors provide organizations with a flexible solution based on their needs. That means, they provide specifically customized systems based on the organization requirements thus, ultimately leads to a more efficient process delivery and at the same time let the company gain a competitive edge over the reference group.

• As all the information flows within the ERP systems so it is easy for a company to plan for the future based on its current performance. These systems enable the decision makers to make quick decisions based on accurate information as the whole information from various departments lie within the same